


After

by lunalena



Category: The Folk of the Air - Holly Black
Genre: F/M, References to Sex, cardan greenbriar - Freeform, jude duarte - Freeform, jurdan - Freeform, so if you're not into that, some mature content?, sorry - Freeform, the cruel prince - Freeform, the queen of nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:21:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21528994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunalena/pseuds/lunalena
Summary: A little bit of fluff after the end of The Queen of Nothing.
Relationships: Jude Duarte/Cardan Greenbriar
Comments: 11
Kudos: 336





	After

“As soon as I walked into the brugh?”

Jude’s whispered tease broke the hush of their bath, her lips curving into a smirk.

Cardan’s tail rose from the water to flick droplets at her. The disturbance sent the water rippling, the flower petals eddying around them.

“The very moment,” he returned, and Jude’s heart stuttered because it could not be a lie.

She sunk deeper into the bath water, resting her head on the edge of the extravagant tub, and watched him. His black eyes sparkled in the golden candlelight, mischief laying in his gaze, as he twirled his finger through the rose-scented water. Cardan, she had intimately learned, liked to pamper himself. She had also learned that she didn’t mind joining him.

They sat on opposite ends of the tub, luxuriating in the warm water. Having spent the past few hours in the den of the Court of Shadows, Jude’s muscles were beginning to ache. She’d sparred with the Ghost while the Bomb, the Roach, and Cardan had played cards. Cardan had kept one eye on their sparring and occasionally yelled out useless pointers. Until the Ghost had hit her a bit too hard, and then he’d yelled out some very serious threats.

Delighted with him, with _them_ , Jude returned to their earlier topic. Lazily running a foot up his thigh, she asked him, “Not even a little doubt?”

Cardan’s tail wrapped around her ankle, stilling her movements just before she reached his hip. “You will never let me live down the last time, I see.”

“You mistook my sister for me.”

“I had been _poisoned_.”

Her laughter echoed around the room, and Cardan’s eyes gleamed at the sound as they always did. She could laugh at the misunderstanding now, enjoy it, now that she knew the truth of his feelings. That he’d mistaken Taryn for her only because of the poisoning _and_ the earrings. There was so much she could enjoy now that she knew the truth of him. So many feelings that had sat within her, locked away and eating away at her, had been changed. Those feelings had transformed from confusion and anger and hurt into the love she had been pushing away.

Cardan still challenged her, infuriated her, but he also loved her. And she didn’t think she would ever get over the wonder of it, this thing she hadn’t even dared to wish for it.

“We need to have your things moved in here,” he said, gesturing absently at the royal chambers around them. She had still been unsure, despite his admission of love, after his return from being a snake. After the wonder had passed she’d gone to her rooms for the night. Cardan had shown up not an hour later, asking her why she had wanted them to sleep in her room when his sheets were nicer.

Jude wondered how long it would take for her uncertainty to go away. She knew he felt it too, for they were both people who had hidden themselves for so long. Had feared so much, and now were wary of love because of it.

_One piece at a time._

“Or perhaps we shouldn’t,” he continued, completely at ease having a conversation with himself, “I like the look of you when you wear my dressing clothes.”

Jude reached her foot out once more, more playful than teasing this time, and he jerked at the contact. “Wicked creature.”

“I dressed in your clothes to sneak into the palace,” she whispered, thinking about the night she’d snuck in, found him in his bed. Instead of pushing her away, he’d held her. He had been holding her for a long time, she’d realized. She had been the one pushing him away.

Cardan remained silent, waiting for her to finish. He always went preternaturally still at moments like this, weighted moments that had been too long coming.

“After seeing Balekin I slept in your bed. I didn’t know where else to go. Then I stole your clothes.”

The admission was quiet, this thing between them still raw and new, both of them still uncomfortable with vulnerability. And then he said “You unravel me,” and Jude remembered why such admissions were worth it.

Cardan grabbed her ankle and tugged, dragging her through the water to him. She went willingly, ended up bracketed between his legs, her own encircling his waist. His black eyes watchful, he slid his hands up her thighs, pausing once he reached the ugly scar on one thigh.

He kissed it often when they lay naked together, loving. His eyes never failed to darken at the sight of it. Cardan stroked his finger around the scar, circling it slowly. “Am I going to hear you scream tonight, Jude?”

She loved playing games with him, but his was by far her favorite. Rising, the water lapping the edges of the bath, she moved to straddle him, wrap her arms around his neck. His hands slid to her waist, his tail curling around her ankle.

“I don’t know. I’d quite like to hear _you_ scream,” she whispered against his lips.

“Do your worst, sweet villain.”


End file.
